Cannot export my song as m4a

[Android_Fan]

Hi,

If I try to export my new song "Shine in the Dark" as an 320kb/s AAC file, Music Studio truncates the beginning of the song. Why is this and how can I export the whole song? I'll enclose the XMS file as an attachment, so you can reproduce the issue.

Exporting as a wave file works, but unfortunately not in m4a file format.

Cheers,
Marc

[Alex]

I just tested it on a Nexus 9 running Android 7.1.1, the export to m4a format sounds identical to the wav export. But I noticed that the 320kb/s export wasn't as stable as lower bit rates, it once resulted in an empty file. I have 2 suggestions:
1. Export to wav first, then select the resulting wav file, tap Export again and select m4a.
2. Try a lower bit rate, maybe some bit rates don't work on certain devices.

[Android_Fan]

The tablet I used for the export is an ARCHOS 101c Copper running Android 5.1. Okay, that tablet indeed hasn't got the power in comparison with yours. But the wave export is okay. Why should the exports of wave and m4a files differ?

Another interesting thing I found out, is the behavior of my smartphone:
It also is an ARCHOS device with even less power than the tablet and Android 5.1 as well. But with the smartphone EVERY export works fine. So I tested the export of other song files with the tablet. They had the same poor result. I've got the hunch, that Android Lollipop 5.1 equals not Android Lollipop 5.1! On my smartphone e. g. every app has got the full writing access to the external SD. On my tablet only the "Total Commander" app has got the full access, because that app requested full access and so I was able to grant it. Both devices are NOT rooted! Could it be an access issue, that Music Studio is not able to export files properly on that tablet?

Because the smartphone has even less power than the tablet, I don't think the problem is power. I'm pretty sure the issue occurs because of the OS version. Probably the tablet is running another build or something.

As I think about, it was the first time I exported AAC / WAV files by using that tablet. You'll find the results in the attachment. Unfortunately none of your suggested workarounds leads to better results. That means I've to transfer my XMS files to my smartphone first and then export AAC / WAV with that device.

[Alex]

Interesting, thanks for providing all these details and the files!

It's not about the device's CPU power and definitely not about access rights (in this case the file wouldn't be created at all). It's all about Android OS and the audio converter API that comes with Android. It can be slightly different on every device, causing unforeseeable issues with file conversion.
By the way, m4a export exports to wav first, then it converts the wav to an m4a file, and Music Studio uses the audio converter API that is provided by Android.

I don't think that we can resolve this because we don't have the resources to support every legacy version of Android (even 7.1.1 is outdated, the current version is 8.1) and test on thousands of devices, but I'm happy to hear that you at least have a workaround with your smartphone.

[Android_Fan]

Hi Alex,

Yes, I understand that. It's nice Music Studio runs on Android Lollipop devices at all. If it comes to MIDI, it's quite a great app an I never would like to miss it. Thank you for that.

I did not know yet there are some issues about the OS, because everything works fine with my smartphone.

Since the reason I want to export m4a merely is to have handy small files, there are some other workarounds. I just tested two of them with the same tablet:

1.
A little ugly, but possibly the best way to get an acceptable result by using Music Studio directly:
I inserted an additional empty beat at the beginning of my song. Exporting this file as AAC merely means losing a part of that empty beat.

2.
Because Music Studio neither is a proper audio editor, nor will become one in the near future, some time ago I already installed another app, which is more capable to handle audio files on mobile devices. It's called "Doninn Audio Editor". This app in particular is able to convert the wav files produced by Music Studio to the mp3 format.

3.
If someone don't want to use a third party app like "Doninn Audio Editor" and also don't want to use empty tracks, it is also still possible to convert the wav files on a PC e. g. to mp3 (or other formats) by using Audacity or other suitable software.

Cheers,
Marc